BACK TO BASICS

As we smoke our last water pipe of Uzbekistan and hear the " wonderful " experiences of one of those " my trip is much better and interesting than yours " travellers trying to pick up a girl in our home stay in Samarkand; we plan our next move to visit the Fan mountains in Tajikistan.
Again by foot, and having the snowed peaks as our goal in front of us we crossed the border and got a ride with the last of our Uzbeck currency to the city of Penjikent.
After walking around the city, we appreciate no difference with their neighbour country, except the language, this one coming from the Farsi and how locals still do not accept that their capital cities , Samarkand and Buhara are not part anymore of their country.

Buying all the necessary and hoping for good weather we set off to the mountains, where we expect to camp for a few days surrounded by 5000 m peaks.
Our backpacks are heavy with food, as we load them on top of the mashurtna ( mini-van) where more than 25 people squeeze each other in the place for 6 and some them stare our boots with more interest than our cameras!
The mountains welcomed us with some rain the first day on the way up to Kunikalon lake, where in some steep slopes we have the feeling that our boots are much heavier than they actually are; maybe the 15 kg in our backpacks are the reason why...
Impressive walls full of snow around our tent are enough reason to drop our mouths open but as well to switch back to basics and make us think in going to fetch some wood before the cold night arrives.
We are definitely closer to the stars...as we look at them in the closed night but as well we are to the hot sun above us next morning, so we jumped into the icy lake and realized later at night, that we should not forget the sun-block cream in our next visit t the high altitudes.
After four days it is time for us to head back to civilization, get a shower and sort out some permit needed to cross the Pamir Highway, again more bureaucracy!!
In the long way down the mountains we chat with some locals who climb these mountains every day to load their donkeys with wood while the impressively strong animals bray loudly to break the quietness in the valley.

Hitching a ride in an old soviet truck to the capital, Dushanbe, we crossed through the scary unfinished tunnel that the Chinese are building to avoid the Anzob pass high above. Inside it we realize that there is no way that this huge terrible scar in the mountain is gonna be finished in 2009 as planned.